Asgardian Twilight Zone
by Melpomene of Tragic Olympus
Summary: Loki is back in Asgard to face his punishment for nearly destroying the Nine Realms. But, things aren't always what they seem. One-Shot. No lemons. Rated M just for safety.


It had been several days since Loki and Thor returned to Asgard to let Odin decide Loki's fate. Loki, along with the Chitari, wreacked havoc on what the Asgardians call 'Midgard', or Earth, and did some pretty hellacious damage. Thor teamed with the Avengers to annilate the rampage of Loki and the Chitari, with immense success, and some casulaties.

Now, though, Loki sat in an underground Asgardian prison, his adopted mother Frigga, looking at him with disbelief as she shook her head.

"Don't even," Loki snorted.

"You had so much potential, my son," Freya whispered, fighting back tears.

"As what, _mother_? King of the _Frost Giants?!_"

"You really don't understand, do you? Not all of Asgard wanted to see Thor succeed. Some actually rallied to your side..."

"And they all caved in like _**sheep**_ when Odin announced his prized bitch as ruler of Asgard," Loki hissed venomously as Thor approached his cell.

"I wish you wouldn't say that," sighed Frigga, shifting her eyes slightly towards Thor, a frown evident on her face.

"Mother," Thor said with a poliet, albeit curt nod of his head.  
"Brother, reconsider. I can speak to Father and have your punishment lessened."

"Lapdog," Loki said to Frigga, nodding his head to Thor.

Frigga did her best not to laugh, offering only a small smile instead.

"What?" Asked Thor, a tad put off by the inside joke.

"You're an idiot," sighed Loki.  
"You spend day after day around the humans and yet you learn nothing from them. You truly are stupid."

"I have learned plenty from the Midgardians," Thor fired back.

"Hero worship," Loki retaliated with a snort.

"Among other things," Thor mumbled, scowling at Loki.

"You've learned nothing, you dumb oaf," Loki sighed, growing weary of trying to 'educate' Thor.

"What have _you_ learned from the Midgardians, Loki?" Frigga asked, eyebrow raised in mild curiosity.

Loki hesitated for a moment. Saying anything around Thor was dangerous, cause the dunderhead had the tendency to open his big maw to Odin, and then the Allfather would have no problem using every last syllable against Loki in his punishment. But...Loki had never been one to hold anything back from Frigga. Despite the darkness that covered his heart and soul, he still, somewhat anyway, thought of Freya as his biological mother, and treated her with some respect.

Sighing heavily, he stretched onto his small prison bed, staring up at the ceiling, and shrugged.

"I learned not to take things at face value, especially with the Midgardians. Tricky little bastards, they are," he chuckled, thinking of the Avengers, and their will to never give up.  
"I learned that though weaker than the Asgardians, the Midgardians hold strength in their own right. And they're better dressers," Loki said with a smirk, casting a sideways glance at Thor. "Though not as classy as myself," he finished.

"He's learned nothing," roared Thor. "He speaks lies."

"Thor, please," Freya began, cut off by the boistrous thunder god.

"He is God of Lies, Mother. Telling the truth is not in his nature!"

"He's right, you know," Loki said offhandedly. "But in this one instance, I _was_ being honest. I am capable of it from time to time."

Looking from one son to the other, Frigga felt as though she were going to split in two. She loved her sons both dearly, though Loki did try to obliterate Midgard in order to take over Asgard as well, but, despite all that, despite his actual heritage, he was still _her son_, just as much as Thor was.

"You know nothing but lies," Thor shouted, crossing his arms over his armor plated chest.

"Shouldn't you be off riding Mjolnir?" Snarked Loki, turning his back to Thor and Frigga.

"Why would I ride my hammer?" Thor asked, looking at his mother quizzically.

Frigga sighed with impatience and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose, the beginnings of a massive wallop of a migraine forming.

"Thor, for the love of Odin, you're as dense as Midgardian soup," she hissed.  
The euphamism made Loki turn in his bed to face her and made Thor's eyebrows nearly shoot from his scalp.

"Mother?" Thor and Loki said in unison.

"Do not try and antagonize your brother, Thor Odinson," Frigga chastised. "Many years, Loki looked up to you, and to Odin, and many years _both of you_ have failed him. I'm not surprised he turned out the way he did. Odin did always like to play favorites," she said, giving an indignant snort.

Loki fought the urge to crack a smile. Frigga...no..._mother..._was defending him.

On the other hand, Thor felt as if he were caught in some 'Midgardian' _Twilight Zone._ He'd _never_ heard his mother speak so ill of himself or her husband. It was a shock to hear her express herself so freely.

As both Thor and Loki looked at Frigga in amazement, Odin entered, trailed by S.H.I.E.L.D's own Nick Fury and some of the Avengers, namely Natasha Romanoff (aka Black Widow), Tony Stark (Iron Man), and Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk). Banner let out a low whistle, impressed by the structuring of the underground prison. Natasha crinkled her nose, not used to the overpowering smells of Asgard. Tony was glaring holes at Loki, then looked over at Thor and flashed a sideways grin.

"Honored guests of Asgard," Odin said to the human team, "Welcome to the home of the Gods. You know my sons."

Everyone noded silently.

"I brought these Midgardians here to witness the judgement of your brother," Odin stated, making his words without question.

"Agreed," Thor said with a nod.

Loki rolled his eyes and started to turn his back to them all again when Frigga's sudden vocal outburst caught everyone's attention.

"This has gone on long enough," Frigga said, staring Odin dead in the eye.  
"Odin, you know well as I that your are just as much to blame for Loki's current state as Thor and myself. Loki should not be the only one put up for punishment."

"And what crime have I commited, Frigga?" Odin boomed, glaring at his wife.

"To put it as the humans do, you maintain an ego as big as a wooly mamoth," she said with finality, daring either Thor or her husband to challenge her.

The Avengers felt like their jaws had dislocated. Fury's eyebrows were flying almost up the curve of his bald head. Thor was beyond flabbergasted. And Odin...Odin was pissed.

"I raised my boys to be strong. It is no fault of mine that Thor bested his weaker brother!"

"Thor couldn't truly fight his way out of a wet sack without Mjolnir," Frigga hissed.

"If looks could kill," whispered Natasha, ganining a nod from the other Avengers and Fury.

"Why would I want to fight a wet sack?" Thor asked, looking to Fury and the Avengers.

"She's saying you're weaker than I am, you buffoon," Loki drawled. If he could've, he would have planted his head throughly into the wall. Or bashed Thor's head into it.

"But I am Prince of Asgard," Thor said, trying to make sense of his mother's words.

"And you're dense as fog," Tony snorted.

"But you were never meant to be," Frigga yelled, gaining everyone's attention.

"What?" said Thor.

"What?" said Loki.

"What?" said Fury and the Avengers.

"Frigga," Odin hissed, "Think your words carefully."

"Oh shut up," she retaliated, making everyone's jaws drop again. She cast everyone a small smile, then turned to Thor and Loki, the smile gone from her face, a deadly serious expression gracing her features. "Thor was never truly meant to rule Asgard alone. He lacks the strategic strength to do so. Nor were you, Loki, meant to rule it alone either."

"I don't have Thor's almighty brawn," Loki drawled out sarcastically.

"Sadly, yes," Frigga said with a sigh, "Where Thor has brawn, he lacks the brains behind it. Loki where you have the genius, you lack the brute strength Thor has. Ah," she raised a hand to silence Loki as she continued, "Odin and I had agreed, when you were children, to break Asgardian tradition and allow you both to rule Asgard because both of you possess something the other doesn't. Loki, you lack strength of body, yes, but you have strength of mind. Even with the title God of Lies, it takes a mind of might to trick an Asgardian, even a Frost Giant. Your intellect far surpasses Thor's brute strength."

Loki felt himself flush at his mother's compliment, glaring daggers at Tony when the billionaire muttered "Mama's Boy" under his breath.

"Thor, your brute strength is impressive, but you lack the common sense even a simple Midgardian child has. You focus too much on the thrill of the fight and not the consequences of it."

"Loki did not consider that risk either when he joined forces with the Chitari," Thor roared, pointing an accusing finger at Loki, who shook his head.

"Actually," Loki sighed, "I did think over the consequences before making my decision to ally with the Chitari. I knew what I was doing and knew what the consequences were. I'm not an idiot, Thor. I just wanted what was mine."

"And what was that?" Natasha asked, head tilted in curiosity.

"Power," Thor hissed, "My title as ruler of Asgard."

"No, you blathering babboon. Acceptance."

The honest admission had caught everyone but Frigga off guard. Loki was rarely one for complete honesty, but, he was stripped of his powers while in that cell, so, he had nothing left to lose.

"Too long I spent in the shadow of the almighty Thor, playing the dutiful little brother. I did everything asked of me. I trained in the same way Thor did, I just preferred magic to brute force."

"Just like your Mother," Odin murmured.

"_But I wasn't good enough,_" Loki bit out, glaring at Odin for his interruption. Clearing his throat, he regained his composure. "The great Odin Allfather decided to choose his brutish son, Thor, to rule Asgard, never _once_ thinking of the son he stole to raise as his own."

"I told you both as children that you were both destined to be kings. You were set up to be king of Joutenheim, which you now are since Laufey is dead and you are his heir, and forge the treaty of peace between the Frost Giants and the Asgardians for eternity."

"Enslavement in their own world, you mean," Loki hissed.

"Stop beating around the bush, Odin," Frigga yelled, gathering everyone's attention again.

"Be quiet, woman," Odin snapped, making the Avengers cringe as Frigga raised her eyebrows.

"Be quiet? Be quiet?!"

"Uh-oh," whispered Loki, backing away from the enterance from his cell.

"How _dare_ you address the Allmother in that tone of language, Odin! I am not something you can belittle at your whim. I am your wife, the mother of your children, and your equal, if not your superior. Now, you hear me, and you hear me well, Odin. Release Loki, place him rightfully at the side of his brother as the _co-rulers_ of Asgard, and go back to your chasing of women."

The strict look on her face told the others that Frigga wasn't joking. She was dead serious.

"Man, you just pissed that lady off," Fury said, looking at Frigga with admiration.

"No shit, genius," Stark said.

"I'd say," Bruce agreed.

"Now would be a good time to hide," Loki warned. He'd only seen his mother this pissed off once before, and it wasn't pretty. Very few things ever made Loki shake in terror. A pissed off Frigga was one of them. Sif in a bad mood was the other.

"Release. My. Son. And. Do. What. Is. Right." Frigga hissed, staring her husband dead in the eye.

"I cannot do that, Frig. For the safety of Asg-"

"The safety of your damned ego, you mean! Damn it, Odin! I'm tired of this bickering between my sons! If you will not release Loki and set things right, then I will."

Odin and Thor started to protest, but Frigga would have none of it. Turning to one of the guards, she ordered him to free Loki and to gather the people of Asgard for the proper cornonation of the two Kings of Asgard. Odin tried to interject his rule one last time, only to be leveled by a glare from Frigga.

"I have stood faithfully by your side since the dawn of time! I sat idly by while you screwed every valkyrie, goddess and mortal from here to Hel and back! I never once stepped out of "my place" in your eyes! Now, I am! Now, it's _my_ turn to set things right and ensure the future of the Nine Realms once and for all! And before you say another word, let me make this clear: You try and stop my one chance to set things right and so help me, I will cut off your _kvist og bær_ and feed it to Fenrir!"

"I don't know what she said, but it sounded painful," Stark said as he and the others watched Loki be freed from his prison and standing at his mother's side.

"Mother always gets what she wants, I suppose," Bruce mumbled, watching the events unfolding with awe.

Hours later, the Avengers watched as Loki and Thor were named co-rulers of Asgard. In a shocking turn of events, Loki's first speech was an apology to the people of Asgard and of Midgard, for letting his ego and bad judgement turn him against what was right. But, not even Loki was going to be that easy to change. A simple smirk on his face was all it took to make the crowd panic as buckets of ice cold water were dumped over the entire crowd from the sky.  
Thor shot Loki a disapproving glare, to which Loki smiled and shrugged.

"I'm still a trickster at heart," he said casually as Frigga approached them. "I can't change that, despite my new title."

"That, my sons, is why I ordained this co-ruling. Thor, I told Loki he lacks brute strength. You lack the appreciation for the simple things, which Loki, even in his sometimes demented state, appreciates."

"I still say it is a bad idea, Mother," Thor interjected, leveled into silence by the same glare that flattened his father.

"Not your concern," she hissed, walking away.

As the crowds dispersed, talking of the new changes in Asgard and what it would mean for the future, Loki and Thor approached the Avengers, Loki reaching them first.

"I know...an apology from me won't mean much after what I've done, but... I am sorry."

"I'm soaked," Tony huffed, grunting when an equally dripping Natasha elbowed him in the ribs.

"Everyone deserves a second chance," she stated simply. "Even ex-psychopaths."

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A/N: Before the flames begin, let me say that I know this goes everything taught by Norse mythology and the _Thor_ and _Avengers_ movies. I don't care. I wrote this because I was dicussing this with a friend and wondered what would have happened had things turned out this way, and this is the way it played out in my head.

You see, even by the teachings of Norse Mythology, Loki isn't _evil_ evil, just a misuunderstood boy wanting acceptance. Why else would he bring around _Ragnarok_? He isn't evil, he's lacking some serious huggage. xD Thor is a bully (which he learned from Daddy). And I made Frigga the way I did because I'm tired of the submissive goddess/submissive woman role. She's a mother first and foremost, and as any mother would tell you: "To hell with my husband (significant other, etc), I'm putting my children first."

So yes, here's my _Avengers/Thor_ one-shot.

Flame it. Love it. I don't care.

Tragically Yours,  
Melpomene~


End file.
